Nilachakra

Interview tricks and techniques

Jaya Jagannath,

To begin with all of us must align to the fact that Interview is not a one point success rather it's a series of impressions which counts. Hence a candidate who is searching for job should be extremely careful right from the first communication itself. The series of steps for any recruitment process during which we need to be more careful are

1. First communication.
2. Sort listing of resume.
3. First round of Interview.
4. Technical or Managerial round.
5. HR interview.

Following is a brief on each of the above phases :

1. First Communication :

The first communication is one where the candidate need not have to appear in front of some one. Here the communication happens thru Telephone or Email with a consultancy or HR of an organization. The candidate needs to be professional in communication, careful towards all the information asked and provided and the completeness of the return mail. Before replying to any mails just make sure that the mail contains all the required information that are asked for, adequately, sufficiently and properly with his/her own hand writing. Never ever give any wrong, incomplete or half baked information to the consultancy or HR. Any small mistake in such stage will lead to a big issue at a later stage. Check if the resume is attached in the required format or not. Some times people at the other end looks for a resume in a specific format ( either .DOC, .RTF or .TXT ASCII format ). Make sure that the subject line of your reply mail is accordingly changed as per their demand. Always it's a good practice to keep a BCC of the same mail to yourself while sending so as to have a tractability. Always try to keep the number of communications minimum and brief. Never write incomplete information which may lead to chain of workarands.

2. Sort listing of resume :

It's an internal activity at the recruiter's end. A proper mail response from a candidate with all adequate data and relevant resume attachment leads to a smooth processing of the case and results in a scheduling for further interview formalities. For this to happen smoothly the candidate must response to the mail sooner with all adequate information and attachment and with a definite subject line.

3. First round of Interview.

This is called as screen round. It mostly happens only for the fresh college pass out students and junior level candidates who have below two years of IT expertise. This round comprises of a briefing with an HR or a software engineer or even a Group discussion. To filter thru this round the candidate must have crystal clear communication skill, smartness, smooth approach to all the question asked, Outlook, knowledge about company and educational excellence.

4. Technical or Managerial round.

This is the main interview which decides your fate. Mostly used to be take by a team lead along with a project manager. Certain things which must be taken care off are

a. Be frank, fluent, smart, answer professionally to the point but maintain politeness.

b. The first question always " tell something about your self. Answer in brief, complete and make sure the second question of the interviewer is from the information provided by your answer to the first question. Thus unknowingly you will be driving the interviewer.

c. Look straight into the eyes of the interviewer and no where else, this will make him realize your self confidence and will also help you not getting diverted or fickle minded.

d. Body expression and face expression also plays a major role in the interview. Always have a descent and justified movement of your hands and facial value while answering … Never answer like as if sound coming from behind a statue.

e. Try to read the facial expression of the Interviewer at a short interval of time. This will tell you whether the over all interview process is heading towards success and satisfaction or it's irritating him. If he is smiling, looking smooth without any curl on his face…. It's a green light …. Else it's a do or die condition for you . You need to make sure that by the end of the interview the green light on his face should be ON. I mean the interviewer should be satisfied and looking convinced.

5. HR interview.

A crucial and important round which decides your most expected aspect , the remuneration. Be frank, truthful besides being polite, well behaved and mannered. In this round you need to make sure that you deliver the best answer to the following four questions.

a. Why you are leaving your current company ?

b. What's your strength ?

c. What are your Week Nesses ?

d. What's your leisure time hobbies ?

Following are some of the good ways answering the most frequently asked questions during any IT interview . Please find below my way of approach towards answering some frequently asked interview queries. These may not be the exact answers that those people must need for . These are the answers from My prospects , If I would be at on the shoes of a candidate in an interview ,I would answer like this .......

Tell us something about yourself

Siba Ram Baral, a system specialist by profession working with GE. Done with my MS from BITS Pilani and currently perusing with M Phil ( Computer Science ). Bound with Six sigma Green belt certification and golden memories from Honeywell, IBM and Covansys, I crossed the mile stone of 7 glorious years of my IT expertise. I am the only son of my parents. I belong to a religious Hindu, Oriya, Khandayat family.

What do you know about our company?
Answer to this question is specific to the company . Always refer to the company profile in their own web site .

Why do you want to join our company?
With the skill set and Expertise that I possess I am confident enough that I am the best suitable candidate to serve your company

What are your strengths and weaknesses?
My dedication , honesty , gentility , reliability and responsibility towards my assignment are my strength . My vision towards career objectives are my powers of strength .
Regarding my weakness let me tell you that disclosing my weakness is itself a weakness . I am sensitive and allergic towards liars, Politics in Profession and . I am little short tempered ( Never tell this sentence if the company is a CRM based Enterprise )

Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
I have a vision of being stable in the next five years . I aim of being a in a position where I can serve the best out of me to the Organization by exploring and flavoring my skill set and . To lead , guide and ultimately manage a set of skilled and potential professionals to make them prepare the way for the progress of the company . To nurture the talents of IT with the Skill , culture and expertise that I have acquired .

Why should we hire you?
With the skill set and Expertise that I possess I am confident enough that I am the best suitable candidate to serve your company .My dedication , honesty , gentility , reliability and responsibility towards my assignment are the added qualities which will always be invested into the betterment of the company . My vision towards career objectives can be proved as the power to the organization .

Hobbies?
Exploring new processes and methodologies . Most of my leisure time I use to spend in surfing the site " http://www.howstuffworks.com"

What did u do during the gap after having passed out? any course?
Apart from Looking for a good opportunity I made my time available for self studies , planning for the future and setting my goals for my future objectives .

What about higher studies ?
Definitely . I think study is a process which should always accompany a human being with the process of breathing and it should stop once the human stops breathing .I have planned of higher studies along with my work so as to keep a synchronization between my knowledge and work experience .

What major decisions did u make in life & when?
Selecting IT as a form of career is the major decision that I made in my life . I was confident of my interest in studies and my goal of being a forerunner in IT .This happened 5 years ago when I was about to be admitted in my technical studies .

What was my final yr project about? Some basic qns reg it?
You are the best person to answer this .

Did u face any problems during project-with team members etc? How did u handle the problem? Who was the leader? Why didn't the others take the leadership initiative?
Problems are the fact of life which use to chase us till the end of our life . During my project I too faced some problems life non synchronization of ideas and approaches between the team members . Lack of concentration , dedication and hard work was also a factor that we needed to work upon . To overcome these untoward situation we had a team discussion involving all the people of various bands , designations and roles associated with the project and tried sorting out the problem . Thus we avoided a big professional calamity . Others were keen on taking leadership initiatives but the best person was the one who had most experience , best suitable and most capable .

Any qns u want to ask us?
Before I could join how best can I prepare myself to be proved as best suitable for the ongoing project at your end ?

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Regards
Team Nilachakra